Columns

South Carolina is unique. We are not like other states – partly because of our history, our culture and our politics.
One of our historic legacies is what one writer called our debilitating inferiority complex. It is best summed up by the often-heard phrase “if it’s a list of good things, we are on the bottom, and if it’s a list of bad things, we are on the top.” Put another way, “thank God for Mississippi,” as they always seem to be worse off than we are.

I am narrow-minded. Some would use different words, such as bigoted, prejudiced, exclusive or hateful.
But please hear me out before you make that judgment.
There is an unquestionable, obvious divide in our country. This divide has been identified in several different ways: racial, political, ideological, philosophical, religious, etc. I would agree that you can certainly identify each of these divides in our contemporary culture.

It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for all things South Carolina – our history, politics, people, culture, places, food – everything.
And since we are such a wonderful – and weird – state, there is an awful lot to know and always something new to learn.

OK, so touting that one is tops in road maintenance in South Carolina is akin to bragging that one owns the largest Chihuahua in the state.
However, when it came to road resurfacing in 2016, our county was the lead dog by miles.

Eight years ago, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that we would have to pass the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, in order to figure out what was in it.
Thanks to that irresponsible logic, the American people were forced into a health-care system that is unable to keep the promises on which it was sold.
We all remember President Obama’s mantra that if you liked your doctor you would keep them, that premiums and deductibles would go down, that we would have more insurance choices and that Medicare would be protected at all costs.

This is the second in an ongoing series about political corruption and ethics reform in South Carolina.

Directly across the street from the State House, on the corner of Gervais and Main Street in Columbia, is a bar called The Whig. To get there, you descend a dank, dark grimy covered stairway, go through an unmarked black door and into an even more dank, dark and grimy room.
On their website, The Whig proudly displays a seal proclaiming itself “North America’s Greatest Dive Bar.”

Donald Trump has taken the oath of office to serve this great country as our commander in chief. The next chapter of American political history has begun.
The country will begin to move in a different direction from that of the past eight years. President Trump has made many promises of the changes he will implement as he leads our nation. There are those who are in total agreement with the changes he has enumerated, and then there are those who adamantly oppose those changes.

This week we are observing Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Many of us are celebrating by defending the Affordable Care Act , our nation’s attempt to end discrimination against people who are born sick, or get sick.
King once said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”